PONIES AND EAGLES AND DUCKS... OH MY!

Our day on Chincoteague Island was a study in nature.  We began the day with Captain Spider with a boat tour of the island.  He told us how a Spanish galleon sank in the 1600's and ponies bound for the gold mines in Peru swam to the island and their descendants have lived there ever since.  When the island became a part of the National Park Service the Volunteer Fire Department kept control over the ponies on the Virginia side and they can cull the herd once a year to maintain it at 150 ponies which the island can support.  Once a year they have a round-up and swim the ponies to the public part of the islands and then sell off some of the three year olds.  On our boat tour we saw the ponies several times grazing on sea grass, several foals among them. We also saw an eagle and several ibis and herons.  The tour was very windy, but delightful.

Clam farming near our campsite

As we were entering the restaurant recommended by Captain Spider for lunch, right beside the door was a mother duck with several ducklings tucked under her.  Later that day, Deb was in town shopping and the mother and brood crossed the street holding up "traffic" (at least 3 cars!) for 10 minutes!  While in town, Deb bought a book the Captain recommended about the pony round up.  It is for young adults and will be fun as a read aloud for Abbie in a year or two.

As we were leaving the island, Deb read aloud to Dave from one of her travel books that we were close to Rehoboth, which is the home of Dog Fish Head Brewery.  It didn't take long to decide to alter our itinerary to include it!  Deb liked the Red and White and Dave bought 120 Minute IPA and World Wide Stout for him and Clay.

After setting up camp at Lum's Pond quickly just before dark, we headed out to a sports bar to watch the NBA finals.  But after the beer at Dog Fish Head and the "mandatory" beer at the Sports Bar to justify the table, we could only hang with the Spurs through the half.  Reading the paper this morning, it appears the 2nd half was just as exciting and the Spurs knew how to turn up the heat on the Heat.

Today we hope to rent a boat on the pond and then go into Wilmington to do some shopping and meet Kris and Rob for supper.  They have invited us to their house!

Stay tuned...